Choose Your Own Adventure

Since 1968, video games have just kept getting better and better.

When the first issue of reason was published in May 1968, hardly anyone knew what a video game was. But that was about to change. That same year, inventor Ralph Baer patented the interactive television device that would go on to become the world's first home video game console. The very first computer game, Spacewar!, was conceived by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student just seven years before that.

As reason evolved into something bigger, so did interactive entertainment. Today, video games have leveled up to the top of the home entertainment heap. They're a $67 billion global business, and roughly half of Americans say they play them every week.

There's no deep mystery to the popularity of the medium. Video games offer something that reason has championed throughout its existence: individual choice and personalized experience. Gamers aren't stuck with the pre-scripted narratives of Hollywood, nor are they mere onlookers watching the elites-only competition of big-time sports. Modern games put you, the player, and your individual decisions at the center of the story or the action.

This fall, gamers' choices are about to expand even further. Sony and Microsoft, two of the biggest companies in the market, are preparing a new generation of video game consoles for release. Early announcements suggest that these devices will expand the roles of choice and personalization still further.

Sony's new system, the Playstation 4, is built around social networking options that encourage players to capture their in-game experiences and share them with others. Microsoft's new platform, the Xbox One, looks even more ambitious: The system is designed as a full-fledged home media hub, built to switch between TV, games, and a slew of other living-room media options. It's voice-activated and motion-controlled, with biometric sensors powerful and finely tuned enough to make the Department of Homeland Security jealous.

Amusement junkies didn't always have such power at their disposal. And they had to fight government censors and nannying legislators in order to get to where they are. As Steven Kent recounts in his 2001 book The Ultimate History of Video Games, early games were in many ways an extension of the pinball business. Because mid-century politicians associated pinball with in the first place gambling, they spent more than a little time trying to shut the nascent industry down. In January 1942, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia signed an order banning pinball machines from the city. Police were allowed to smash them on sight—and they did. More than 3,000 machines were either destroyed or hauled away as a result of LaGuardia's order, which stayed on the books until 1976.

It was around the same time that the video game business we know today was getting ready to boom. The first home video game console—the Magnavox Odyssey—hit the market in 1972. Meanwhile, full-size arcade games like Pong and Computer Space were beginning to pop up in pinball arcades and pizza shops around the country. The teen-friendly pastimes were bound together even further in 1977, when video game entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell opened the first Pizza Time Theater—later to become Chuck E. Cheese—in San Jose, California. The kid-friendly concept restaurant fused a pizza shop with a sizable video arcade, and it helped pave the way for the windowless, screen-lit gaming rooms that would litter indoor malls and other suburban shopping centers throughout the 1980s.

At the same time that video games were expanding their retail presence, they were also infiltrating American homes. The year that Bushnell opened the first Pizza Time, Atari, a company Bushnell had founded just a few years earlier, released its first home gaming console, the Atari 2600. After a rocky start, the system eventually became a huge success, with more than 10 million units sold by 1982. Games for the system were laughably simple by today's standards, consisting mostly of slowly moving jagged lines and solid blocks of color. But they suggested the incredible potential of computerized home entertainment, setting players and developers on a path that would eventually lead to the Xboxes and Playstations of today.

That path was not without its political hurdles. By the early 1990s, video game graphics technology had become far more advanced, and game designers used their new freedom to create interactive worlds that were far more detailed—and in some cases more violent—than anything that had come before. That grabbed the attention of national politicians. Sen. Joe Lieberman, then a Democrat from Connecticut, arranged for a congressional hearing on the marketing of violent video games after seeing splashes of pixilated cartoon blood in such pulpy fantasy action games as Doom and Mortal Kombat.

The hearings made big headlines at the time, as politicians scolded game makers for marketing what they said was graphic content to children. Several states followed up with bans on the sale of violent games to minors. But courts consistently overturned those prohibitions. Now, with the passage of time and the advancement of technology, it's hard to see the games that inspired such outrage as anything other than nostalgic early amusements. While many of the highest-profile modern games still revolve to some degree around violence, some of those same games offer a visual and narrative sophistication that rivals any pop-culture competition.

And while those competitors are still telling people what the story is and who the heroes are, video game designers have a more laissez-faire approach: Let the customer decide. No longer are players stuck with bland protagonists made to appeal to everyone: Role-playing games give players the ability to customize their avatars and their narratives, making them as weird and wonderful as they want. Play as an orc. Play as a robot. Play as a man or as a woman. Play with a silly-looking helmet or a scary demon mask. Play as a robotic orc wearing a silly-looking helmet and a demon mask. Over the 45 years that reason has existed, video games have been expanding the freedom that pop-culture consumers have to make those decisions for themselves. It's an attitude that reason has celebrated from the beginning: It's your game, your life, your story, your choice.

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Red Dead Redemption is probably my favorite game in the last five years.

By far the most I’ve ever been immersed in a video game. There were a couple playable cut scenes that were different than anything I’ve ever experienced in a video game before. A true crossover between movie and game.

By far the most I’ve ever been immersed in a video game. There were a couple playable cut scenes that were different than anything I’ve ever experienced in a video game before. A true crossover between movie and game.

I liked the driving on the ones I have played. But then I don’t really like video games very much and was just fucking around and not trying to accomplish anything. It’s a good game for that if you find absurd, fake violence amusing.

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I’m not pumped. These games are infantilizing, and I don’t see them as expanding player’s power to make choices. The important choices are made by the designers and programmers.

The most valuable asset we have as humans is the ability to focus our attention on a given task. Name any human achievement and it will begin and end with this ability to focus attention. Video games are a frivolous waste of this precious gift.

One of the greatest scars of my youth was being unable to convince my gaming buddies to get into Shadowrun. CoC is still my favorite, but there was something.. honest about Shadowrun that drew me in. Sadly if it wasn’t AD&D or Tentacular Spectacular they weren’t going for it.

One really has to wonder just how safe it would be to try playing Shadowrun online these days?

I mean you basically have a game in which the heroes are a cross between freelance corporate spies and terrorists, can you imagine how many red flags an In Character discussion would set off on an NSA language filter?

Most arcade games are significantly *worse* than their console counterparts now. Last time I went to a Dave and Buster’s, I was sort of shocked by how crappy the graphics were, and how limited the gameplay was. The only thing arcades have is an ability to use different, more lifelike — guns you can hold and motorcycles you can “ride”, that sort of thing.

Ah but that was the beauty of it. There was actually something at stake. None of this sissy just hit the start button and try again stuff that we have nowadays. Back then you zigged when you shoulda zagged and BAM you’re hitting up the creepy old geezer with the quarter dispensing device on his belt for another round.

I played MKIII version a while ago and the muscle memory 20 YEARS LATER was amazing. I posit that I could still kick some serious ass in that game, even be in the top 5%, all without touching it in 20 years (except that once).

I’ve long thought that when full-immersion VR gets good enough and cheap enough we’d see it start out in arcades. With full haptic interfaces, which makes me also think they might start out in strip clubs. But that’s another story.

I decided that when I started looking at people’s names. I mean, Ayn Rand was the sort of person would name a “looter” Mouch. And who do we have riling women up to mooch off the public? Sandra Fluke. A fluke being an actual parasite.

I mean, if I was reading a book by some unsubtle author and a character was named Rand Paul, I would assume he represented the intersection point between objectivists and christian evangelists.

I guess the only real question is whether I am someone from outside the simulation but unable to realize it, or am I purely a product of the holodeck?

Google “Tits and Glass.” It got banned by Google as soon as they announced it and before it was even complete. My understanding is the development effort morphed into some other porn supportive function but they’d have to shadow market it.

A full cockpit Battlemech simulator with better gameplay and graphics than the Mechwarrior games that existed at the time and all networked together for 8 on 8 (and in theory up to 16 on 16 if anyone had that many pods) battles.

I probably logged over 1000 hours on the ones they had at the Dave and Busters in Atlanta back in the late 90’s

Dave and Buster’s is a shitty excuse for an arcade and isn’t representative of modern arcade games. Arcades are dead in the US and most new games produced never make it over here, let alone to Dave and Busters.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve pretty much abandoned consoles for arcade games. I sold a pretty big console collection and bought a sit down arcade machine in 2005 and I haven’t looked back. Most of the games I bought for the 360 ended up being ports of arcade games anyway, with the exception of Ninja Gaiden 2, Vanquish, and Dark Souls. I much prefer the tighter, more focused gameplay of stuff like Dodonpachi, Raiden, and Magical Drop 3, games that really challenge your hand eye coordination and force you to improve. I like that arcade games are all about getting better, where console games seem to be getting more and more focused on being interactive cinema and providing lots of content. I’ll take a tightly designed 1 hour arcade game over a Bioshock anyday.

There are four. The Pirate one is OK, the Torgue one is funny as hell and pretty fun, the Hammerlock one is a massive pain in the ass but you level up a lot (I hate Vampire Witch Doctors with a passion) and the Tiny Tina one has been great–but tough–so far.

Guess I’ll start with the Torgue one then. Funny is the best part of the BL experience for me. That and loot exploding out of dead bodies like a cluster bomb went off in a pinata factory. I like that part, too.

It’s an FPS RPG with random loot drops, amazing variety in weapons and shields, and is humorous and just an absolute blast to play. When I play a game, I want to kill things and loot stuff. I don’t want to talk, or solve jumping puzzles. I want to kill and loot. And that’s what Borderlands is.

Dude, I was able to play a few hours over the last two nights after not playing for a week. Borderlands is all I have time for at this point. I’ll be lucky to ever reach level 61, let alone the fact that they’re adding a new level cap to (I think) 72.

Fuckin’ hate jump puzzles with a passion in a FPS. And Borderlands, is a shit ton of fun, though I don’t replay much.

I do like a strong story in games though. On the second play through of Dishonored. First time I was a complete sociopath and the world responded, often wonderfully, in kind. You could see the big third act plot twist coming, (Mild Spoiler: hell, the cute cleaning lady gives you a key to an abandoned apartment telling you to be ready when shit goes down, so not like they tried to hide it)Endofspoiler but it was the execution of it that was the pay off. Now I’m ghosting instead of killing, and some people who loathed me the first time around approve of my decisions. Though alternatively, there is one who praised me for being a killing machine who is still praising me, though I haven’t killed anyone, even those he order me to assassinate. He should be calling me a big fat pussy, like Anna Navarro would in the first Dues Ex, if you played passive.

I liked the Last of Us, but I don’t think it was THAT much different than a good ole fashioned Resident Evil zombie shooter. I did like the ability to fashion weapons and the fact that the surrogate characters weren’t a liability as in other games but I don’t get what all the hype is all about.

Not to say it was a bad game, it was a great storyline and the characters were interesting, it’s just that it didn’t feel all that unique in comparison to other zombie/mutant games.

I cannot look at the coverage of the pope’s visit to Brazil without putting it in terms of the the way Brazil operates in the new Civ 5 expansion. That’s a huge tourism bonus they’ve got going. Definitely heading for a culture victory, what with the upcoming Olympics in 2016.

I’m still looking for a game as fun to play as the arcade version of Missile Command (the big sit-down one with the big ball controller) was when it first came out.

The award for “Biggest Disparity Between Memory of Fun and Actual Fun” is held by the arcade version of Defender. If you enjoyed playing that game as a yute, find one now and try to play it. Watch your memories of childhood disintegrate. That game sucked.

I think you might have been playing Defender wrong. The proper way is to push the joy stick all the way to the right (or left, if you swing that way) and fly around the planet as fast as you can firing the entire time. That way it becomes a slalom course of pixel-drenched ultradeath.

My favorite arcade game was the Star Wars one with the funky controller and wire-frame graphics. I wasted a lot of money on that thing.

Talked with a guy who sells games and vending machines and he said the reason that particular unit is difficult to find and expensive when you do find it is that they don’t make the monitors for wire-frame graphics anymore.

So I guess I’ll never have one in my basement, because I sure as shit ain’t paying several thousand dollars for one. Especially since it will never live up to my memories.

I remember when I used to rule at this game called “Starfighter” and then this dude showed up and took me to a space station and then I piloted a ship and did the Death Blossom and I think I was on acid when that happened. Anybody else remember that?

Frank Reynolds: I went on a manhunt once. I just got back from Nam. I was hitchhiking through Oregon. Next thing I know there’s a bunch of cops chasing after me through the woods! I had to take them all out, it was a bloodbath!

Mac: Dude that’s Rambo.

Dennis Reynolds: And that’s not the first time you’ve compared yourself to Jon Rambo by the way.

Mac: You know what? This is making me think I could get on board with a manhunt.

I remember when I used to rule at this game called “Starfighter” and then this dude showed up and took me to a space station and then I piloted a ship and did the Death Blossom and I think I was on acid when that happened. Anybody else remember that?

The monitor I’m looking at is $450 with the glasses, but the glasses by themselves, the NVIDIA glasses, you can get on Amazon for $125.

So how was the one try? What game? I don’t really want to waste that much on a monitor and not like it, but no one I know owns one, and there are none in stores that I have seen. I can only read reviews…

I haven’t tried to play any games on my 3D TV. But it’s because I don’t like the console(Xbox 360). It’s hardly ever turned on. Probably the only game I will even play on it is Red Dead Redemption, because it’s not available on PC.

I am actually a little surprised that 3D isn’t playing a bigger role in the new console generation. 3D movies blow for the most part, but 3D gaming strikes me as an obvious entry point (it’s all 3D already) for the tech.

Oh. I gather from the replies that there was an actual commercial game with that name. If it hadn’t been for them, I’d’ve taken SugarFree’s reference to Smash TV, a game where you stand up, have no buttons, and can move in any direction, as one where you use a sledge hammer or ax on a TV.

Oculus rift is getting there, quickly. I thought about getting a dev kit, but I have no time to mess with it. I’m waiting from the first commercial release, when they will have a true HD display ready.

I just feel like back in the SNES days we had better games more often. I remember having to save up to buy Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Final Fantasy 3 within a year of each other, and to me those two particular games were about the best of their genres (at least until ff7).

Halo 4’s multiplayer is rather nicely balanced. But the original CS was just holy-shit, take-up-arms, the-revolution’s-here good. Sure, sure, there were hacker troubles, but if you were in college at the time, you didn’t play random hacker dorks, you played *your friends and neighbors* on campus. And the social pressure pretty much prevented serious cheating. Meanwhile, the team-building and high-strategy of it all turned a video game into an intramural sport.

Bought too many games during the Steam summer sale and am trying to catch up when I have a second.

Dishonored started slowly, but by the end I found myself really enjoying the stealth aspect of the game. Once I caught on to the general idea, I played a humanitarian assassin who refused to shed blood with the exception of Daud’s assassins, the torturer, and the conspirators. Fun little game.

X-Com has god-awful writing but fantastic gameplay with immense replayability in Iron Man mode and the secondary options (not created equal and hidden potential lead to some great and awful colonels).

Started up Crusader Kings on three occasions and wind up shutting it down a few minutes later every time after trying to navigate my way through scores of buttons and flavor text and unrecognizable icons. I’m sure the game has depth, but the design is the opposite of enjoyable and intuitive.

The new civilization expansion is pretty good if you can get past the idea that the entire game is an apologia for the god-king engaged in centralized planning. Future editions should have libertopia options in which populist liberal revolts rip control away from the player and force him to watch as the market determines technological and economic policies. Sure to be a hit with the kiddies.

Completely forgot about Borderlands–I snagged the year pass for some insanely good price and forgot that I had it. I stopped playing around level 31 or so, so if I can ever get through the 20 or so new games that are sitting in my queue, I might return to it. Sort of like Diablo 3. I keep thinking I’ll return to them, but there are so many new games coming out and in my backlog that I never get around to the old ones.

Hah, nice. A lot of the indie platformers are fun for my three-year-old son. I play the more hardcore stuff in the morning before everyone else wakes up. We also just got into Skylanders about a month ago.

Yes, this new faction called the Aetherblade showed up and murdered one of council members, and there’s currently and election being held to determine the replacement. Eilen Kiel (former head of the Lion Guard who you may remember from the Southson Island incidents) and Evon Gnashblade (head of the Black Lion Trading Company). Lion’s Arch is also trying to negotiate a trade contract with the Zephyrites (the descendants of Glint’s followers in GW1).

You know…I have that game and leveled a guardian to 18 I think and haven’t played it in a year. I didn’t have the time then but I might return. The problem is I get too wrapped up in living out my libertopia fantasies in EVE Online.

The first home video game console?the Magnavox Odyssey?hit the market in 1972.

My dad bought that one on a visit to Laredo, TX, back in 1973. The console itself had no CPU, was mainly an analog/digital contraption that used different circuit cards that contained the “games.” The console included playing cards and vinyl sheets (that you would stick to the CRT in your TV) that had different things drawn on them, like football fields or hockey rings and such. The games consisted, mostly, of a few light squares you could move with a pair of control boxes with knobs. It was as clunky and primitive as you could get.

After just a few hours of play, my dad put the whole thing in a box and placed it in a closet until we moved to another city. In 1977, he bought a Coleco Pong, which was a blast to play. We never purchased an Atari or any other console since, because we became more interested in personal computers, which had plenty of games themselves. It wasn’t until I got married and moved to the US that I bought a PS2 – my very first modern game console.

Remember the loophole-exploiting games that Bally, Chicago Coin, etc. produced to get around the pinball ban? One common type had all the features of pinball except that the ball was put in play by means other than a player-operated plunger. Some were 3-D affairs where the ball didn’t merely roll, but bounced around thru the air in the enclosure. There were some that included a miniature pinball table within that was triggered by certain scores the player made.

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I will be more prepared to face the future of video games that will be highly developed and growing rapidly. video game for me is not just a game. It was the appointment of a challenge, courage, strength, and proper strategy while playing. For me, a video game addict is the genius who likes a challenge.